IND vs BAN: "The Way He Was Out, It Was Like He Was Giving Catching Practice"- Farokh Engineer Unhappy With Out Of Form KL Rahul

The one aspect of India’s five-wicket loss against South Africa on Sunday in Perth that stuck out was Kl Rahul‘s performance, other than the fact that it was India’s first defeat in the 2022 T20 World Cup.

In the mega-event, the right-handed opener has yet to score big. In the first three matches that India played, he scored 4, 9, and 9. On Sunday, Rahul edged a ball off Lungi Ngidi to Aiden Markram at slip in the fifth over of the innings for just nine off 14 balls. 

KL Rahul Hasn’t Done Anything In This World Cup: Farokh Engineer

Farokh Engineer, a former Indian star, was quite unhappy with the performance of KL Rahul. 

“India need to quickly find some solutions after their chastening defeat to South Africa on Sunday. Their first problem is opening batsman KL Rahul who is terribly out of form.

The way he was out, it was like he was giving catching practice. He just glided the ball into the first slip. An opening batsman doesn’t do that!” Engineer wrote in a column for Khaleej Times. 

“I have a very high opinion of KL Rahul as a very, very capable batsman. But in this World Cup, he just hasn’t done anything. So are you going to replace him at this stage?

Are you going to get Rishabh Pant to open the innings? I don’t know. I would like to pursue with him still because he is a good batsman, you cannot become a bad batsman overnight.” 

India Dropped To Second Place

India dropped to second place in Group 2 after the loss, with South Africa taking the top spot with 5 points. After their first game against Zimbabwe was rained out, the Proteas won two straight games. The NRR of this side is +2.772. 

India, on the other side, has four points after three contests. Before the defeat to South Africa in Perth, they had a string of victories. They have a +0.844 NRR. 

Bangladesh is ranked third in the group with the same number of points as India, but their NRR (-1.533) is relatively lower. 

With an NRR of -0.050, Zimbabwe is in fourth place, followed by Pakistan in fifth place with an NRR of +0.765, and the Netherlands at the bottom with an NRR of -1.948. 

Also Read: IND vs BAN: Sunil Gavaskar Insists That Mental Conditioning Coach Needs To Talk To KL Rahul